Night's Dark Terror

Plot summary

Night's Dark Terror is a wilderness scenario in which the player characters travel by river and over mountains, from the Grand Duchy of Karameikos to the chaotic lands. The characters encounter a town under siege by goblins, a ruined city, and a lost valley. The module teaches the Dungeon Master (DM) how to handle wilderness conditions, and includes new rules for weather. The module also includes statistics for eleven new monsters, and comes with a battle map and counters for use in staging a battle in one of the towns.

The wilderness module is set in the area of Eastern Karameikos. According to White Dwarf reviewer Graeme Davis, much of the action in the module has to do with the secret society known as the Iron Ring.

The module begins in a beleaguered farmstead. The PCs then explore more than 20,000 square miles (52,000 km²) of wilderness, with eighteen locations, including a number of mini-dungeons, a ruined city, a riverside village, a frontier town, and a lost valley, with the minions of the Iron Ring waiting for the PCs at every step.

Publication history

B10 Night's Dark Terror was published by TSR in 1985 as a sixty-four page booklet, a map, and a cardstock counter sheet, with two outer folders. Night's Dark Terror was written in Britain by Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, and Phil Gallagher, working for TSR UK Ltd. The module is described as "A Special Basic/Expert Transition Module for Levels 2-4", for campaigns that are being upgraded from the Basic Set to the Expert Set.

The module includes a fifty-six page booklet, a large double-sized fold-out map, a smaller color map sheet, and a sheet of die-cut counters. The maps measure 22” x 34”, and the cardboard counters are for use with the Battlesystem supplement. The module features cover art by Brian Williams, and interior art by Helen Bedford.

Reception

Graeme Davis reviewed Night's Dark Terror for White Dwarf No. 78. Davis felt that the farmstead in the adventure's opening was nicely detailed, and that the counters to play out the action on the 25mm scale map for that location were a nice idea. He commented on the plot of the adventure, "There is enough here to keep the fastest-moving party going for some time, and a section of suggestions for further adventures can help the GM to open out a long-running campaign in the area." Davis did note that the numbering system for wilderness locations was confusing, with an example where a location has one designation at one part in the module, and at a later point the location has a different designation which does not correspond with anything on the map. However, Davis felt that everything else in the module was written and laid out very well, and that the module would be a tremendous help for any game master learning the Expert rules.

Ken Rolston reviewed D&D module B10 Night's Dark Terror in brief for Dragon magazine No. 124 (August 1987). Rolston called Night's Dark Terror "the best-illustrated and best-designed module I've ever seen—and the adventure and campaign material is every bit as remarkable as the graphic presentation."

In his 1991 book Heroic Worlds, Lawrence Schick describes the adventure as an "Outstanding wilderness scenario... that 'bridges the gap' between the D&D Basic and Expert rules."